Audra McDonald

Winner of four Tony Awards, Broadway legend Audra McDonald returns to the concert stage after four seasons on the hit ABC television series Private Practice. Joined by an orchestra, the two-time Grammy Award winner performs an unforgettable evening of favorite show tunes, classic songs from the movies, and original pieces written expressly for this extraordinary artist who is at the height of her expressive powers. “Ravishing of voice and Olympian of stature, she’s an overwhelming presence” (The New York Times).

Performers

Audra McDonald, Vocalist

Ted Sperling, Conductor

Bios

Audra McDonald

Audra McDonald is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a
singer and an actress. With four Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and a long list of other
accolades to her name, she is among today's most highly regarded performers. Blessed with a
luminous soprano and an incomparable gift for dramatic truth-telling, she is equally at
home on Broadway and opera stages as in roles on film and television. In addition to her
theatrical work, she maintains a major career as a concert and recording artist, regularly
appearing on the great stages of the world.

In the summer of 2011, after four seasons playing Dr. Naomi Bennett on ABC's hit
television series Private Practice, Ms. McDonald turned her attention back to live
performances, making her role debut as the title character in a new musical adaptation of
Porgy and Bess at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In
December, the production transfers to the Richard Rodgers Theatre, marking Ms. McDonald's
first Broadway appearance since 2007, when she received a Drama Desk Award and a Tony
nomination for her performance in 110 in the Shade. Between the runs in Cambridge
and New York City of Porgy and Bess, Ms. McDonald embarks on a 20-city concert
tour across North America, presenting her trademark mix of show tunes, classic songs from
movies, and pieces written expressly for her by leading contemporary composers.

Born into a musical family, Ms. McDonald grew up in Fresno, California, and received her
classical vocal training at The Juilliard School. One year after graduating, she won her
first Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for
Carousel at Lincoln Center Theater, directed by Nicholas Hytner. She received two
additional Tony Awards in the Featured Actress category over the next four years for her
performances in the Broadway premieres of Terrence McNally's play Master Class
(1996) and his musical Ragtime (1998), earning her an unprecedented three Tony
Awards before turning 30. In 2004, she won her fourth Tony, starring with Sean "Diddy"
Combs in A Raisin in the Sun. Her other theater credits include The Secret
Garden (1993), Marie Christine (1999), Henry IV (2004), 110 in
the Shade (2007), and, most recently, her Public Theater / Shakespeare in the Park
debut in Twelfth Night alongside Anne Hathaway and Raúl Esparza (2009).

Ms. McDonald made her opera debut in 2006 at Houston Grand Opera, which featured her in a
double-bill of Poulenc's monodrama La voix humaine and the world premiere of
Send, a companion-piece written by one of her frequent collaborators, composer
Michael John LaChiusa. She made her Los Angeles Opera debut in 2007 starring with Patti
LuPone in John Doyle's production of Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of
Mahagonny. The resulting recording won Ms. McDonald two Grammy Awards, one for Best
Opera Recording and the other for Best Classical Album.

On the concert stage, Ms. McDonald has premiered music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer
John Adams and sung with virtually every major American orchestra. She made her Carnegie
Hall debut in 1998 with the San Francisco Symphony under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas
in a season-opening concert that was broadcast live on PBS. Internationally, she is a
returning guest at the BBC Proms in London (where she was only the second American in more
than 100 years to solo on the famed Last Night of the Proms at Royal Albert Hall)
and at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, as well as with the London Symphony Orchestra and
the Berlin Philharmonic.

As an exclusive Nonesuch recording artist, Ms. McDonald has released four solo albums on
the label, interpreting songs from the classic to the contemporary. Her first Nonesuch
album, 1998's Way Back to Paradise, was named Adult Record of the Year by The
New York Times. Following the best-selling How Glory Goes in 2000 and
Happy Songs in 2002, she released the 2006 album Build a Bridge, which
saw the singer stretch her repertoire to include songs by the likes of Randy Newman, Elvis
Costello / Burt Bacharach, Rufus Wainwright, and Nellie McKay. Her ensemble recordings
include the acclaimed EMI version of Bernstein's Wonderful Town conducted by Sir
Simon Rattle, the New York Philharmonic release of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, and
Dreamgirls in Concert, as well as the first recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein's
Allegro. Ms. McDonald is also featured on the Broadway cast albums of
Carousel, Ragtime, Marie Christine, and 110 in the
Shade.

In addition to her professional obligations, Audra McDonald is an ardent proponent of
marriage equality and sits on the advisory board of the advocacy organization Broadway
Impact. Of all her many roles, however, her favorite is that of mother to her daughter, Zoe
Madeline.

Ted Sperling

One of today's leading theater artists, Ted Sperling is a conductor, music director,
arranger, singer, pianist, and violinist. He was music director and conductor of the first
Broadway revival of South Pacific, which won seven Tony Awards in 2008 and played
to sold-out Lincoln Center Theater houses since its opening. In 2005, Mr. Sperling won the
Tony and Drama Desk awards (with Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin) for his orchestrations of
The Light in the Piazza, for which he was also music director.

Mr. Sperling has an active conducting career, performing with Audra McDonald, Victoria
Clark, Patti LuPone, Kelli O'Hara, Paulo Szot, and Deborah Voigt. He has conducted
performances regularly with the New York Philharmonic as well as a concert presentation of
Ricky Gordon's opera, The Grapes of Wrath, at Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Sperling was music director and conductor of the 2009 Tony Award-nominated revival of
Guys and Dolls. Other Broadway credits as music director-conductor-pianist include
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty, How to Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Angels in America,
My Favorite Year, Falsettos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Les
Misérables, Roza, and Sunday in the Park with George. Mr. Sperling
was an original cast member of the Broadway musical Titanic. Off-Broadway credits
as music director include A Man of No Importance, Wise Guys, A New
Brain, Saturn Returns, Floyd Collins, Falsettoland, and
Romance in Hard Times.

Mr. Sperling's work as a stage director includes the world premieres of four musicals:
See What I Wanna See, V-Day, Charlotte: Life? Or Theater?, and
Striking 12, as well as a revival of Lady in the Dark. He has conducted
the scores for the films The Manchurian Candidate and Everything Is
Illuminated, and directed the short film, Love Mom.

Mr. Sperling was a recipient of the 2006 Ted Shen Family Foundation Award for leadership
in the musical theater and is director of the Music Theater Initiative at the Public
Theater, as well as creative director of the 24-Hour Musicals.

Andy Einhorn

In demand as music director, conductor, pianist, orchestrator, arranger, and vocal coach,
Andy Einhorn boasts Broadway credits for Brief Encounter, The Light in the
Piazza, and Sondheim on Sondheim, which won a Grammy nod for Best Original
Broadway Cast Recording. He is also recognized for his frequent collaborations with many of
the musical theater world's biggest stars, including Kristin Chenoweth, Barbara Cook, Ana
Gasteyer, and Audra McDonald.

As resident music director on the Sweeney Todd national tour, Mr. Einhorn
received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Music
Direction. He worked on the first national tour of The Light in the Piazza; other
tour credits include South Pacific, White Christmas, Mamma Mia!,
and The Lion King.

Off-Broadway, Mr. Einhorn worked on Adam Gwon's Ordinary Days, while
international work includes the European premiere of The Light in the Piazza. He
was music director of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for Paper Mill
Playhouse and the world-premiere production of Henry Krieger's new musical, Radio
Girl, at the Goodspeed Opera House. He recently orchestrated Gwon's The Boy
Detective Fails at Signature Theatre and She Loves Me for the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival. He was principal vocal coach and pianist for Houston Grand Opera's
An Evening with Audra McDonald, a double-bill of Poulenc's La voix
humaine, and Michael John LaChiusa's Send.

Equally at home in the concert hall, Mr. Einhorn has served as music director and pianist
for Ms. McDonald. He made his own Carnegie Hall debut earlier this year with Alan Gilbert
and the New York Philharmonic in the Hall's 120th Anniversary Gala, televised on PBS's
Great Performances. He has also music directed for Barbara Cook at venues that
include Feinstein's at Loews Regency and Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. DRG Records
released an album of his recent collaboration with Ted Chapin, Stage Door Canteen,
previously seen at the 92nd Street Y.

An honors graduate of Rice University, Andy Einhorn is a native of Houston, Texas. He
currently resides in New York City.

Mark Vanderpoel

Mark Vanderpoel is a native of San Diego and a former member of the San Diego Symphony, in
addition to various orchestras and chamber groups in the Baja California area of Mexico. He
attended the University of California-San Diego, where he studied with Bertram Turetzky.
After UCSD, Mr. Vanderpoel attended the University of Southern California and later
received a master's degree from the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with
Charlie Hayden and Darek "Oles" Oleszkiewicz.

Now living in New York City, Mr. Vanderpoel works extensively on and off Broadway. His
credits include Jane Eyre, Amour, See What I Wanna See,
Legally Blonde, and Guys and Dolls. In the summer of 2010, he had the
privilege of performing for President Obama and assembled dignitaries in A Broadway
Celebration: In Performance at the White House, which was later televised nationally
on PBS. Mr. Vanderpoel has also performed with such popular artists as James Taylor, Cyndi
Lauper, Nancy Sinatra, and Clay Aiken.

Gene Lewin

Gene Lewin appears on 33 CDs, with several more soon to be released. He drums, sings, and
composes for GrooveLily, a trio that has been together for 15 years and has toured
throughout North America. While they have morphed through many different musical scenes
(and hairstyles), they are now focused on creating hybrid musical theater-performances that
feel both like concert and story.

Mr. Lewin is also active in New York City's jazz scene, performing and recording with many
well-respected singers and instrumentalists. He has appeared on CDs with bassists John
Patitucci and Scott Colley, guitarists Ben Monder and Steve Cardenas, tenor saxophonist
George Coleman, bassist-vocalist Jay Leonhart, and many others.

Originally an engineering major at Princeton University, Mr. Lewin soon changed paths and
returned to school to receive a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 1991.
He sends love to his wife Suzanne and sons Elias and Jacob.

Kevin Kuhn

Originally from Philadelphia, Kevin Kuhn has lived in New York City for 25 years and is
currently guitarist for Disney's The Lion King on Broadway. As a composer, he has
been on the staff at Score Productions, Big Wave Music, and Shelly Palmer Productions,
which produced three seasons of music for the television series Spin City with
Michael J. Fox.

Mr. Kuhn has performed with Audra McDonald, Sarah Brightman, Rita Coolidge, LeAnn Rimes
and Elton John, Quincy Jones, Ashford and Simpson, British Rock Symphony with Peter
Frampton, and Liza Minnelli, among others. Stage credits include The Who's Tommy
and Chess by ABBA. He has performed extensively at Lincoln Center, including
appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, and with the New York Philharmonic, New York City
Ballet, and New York City Opera. Film and television credits include Gangs of New
York, Birdy, Prime, The Nanny Diaries, The Other Side
of Time, and The Producers.

Audio

"Wonderful You"

Audra McDonald

Nonesuch

In the Artist's Own Words

Toward the end of Porgy and Bess, Sportin’ Life sings to
Bess about leaving Charleston for New York: “That’s where you belong, sister!”
He may or may not be right with respect to Bess, but I can definitely tell you,
I’ve been hearing those words eight times a week and I know the man is right:
New York is where I belong.

After racking up three-quarters of a million frequent flyer miles commuting
back-and-forth to LA every week for the past four years, I’m glad to be home,
in all senses of the word. I’ve returned to my house, my family, my friends, and
my dog. But I’ve also returned to singing, where I left a big piece of my heart
when I was doing television. And finally, tonight, I’m home in front of a New
York audience again.

As the old commercial goes, I’m not a doctor, but I played one on TV. It was
nice to have the perks of running a practice alongside the likes of Tim Daly
and Taye Diggs, without the stress of going to medical school or taking
patients’ lives in my hands. But all that time, I really missed singing my
songs, practicing the chemistry of music and words. The thought-cloud of a
lyric, perfumed by music—a song is unique in its ability to convey emotion and
meaning in a way that is abstract and yet, simultaneously, incredibly human.

It’s impossible for me to express in a few short words how happy I am to be
“home” at Carnegie Hall, to share with you some songs I love in the best way I
know how.

—Audra McDonald

The Trustees of Carnegie Hall gratefully acknowledge the generosity of Mrs. Judith Chasanoff in support of the 2011-2012 season.